Buying an Echo or Google Home at the tail-end of a year ago was like buying a sofa from DFS.

High tech companies are now pouring millions of pounds into developing voice-controlled smart speakers, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, in the belief that the limited two-way conversations that they can hold will soon become more complex and life-like. That's roughly close to 7.5 million Google Homes might have been sold since October, claims TechCrunch. Home Max was launched in mid-December at $399 -- so it's clear that it makes up a small portion f those million of sales.

It isn't alone in that situation either. Like Google, Amazon certainly expects to make up for the lost money later by blanketing people's homes with devices that connect to its store. Amazon is also believed to be losing money on the Echo Dot, which was similarly cut to $29 during the holiday season.

Its fierce competitor Amazon has not disclosed its sales for its branded smart speaker but says tens of millions of Amazon Alexas have been sold throughout the Christmas period, more than ever before.

Evidently, the strategy is working. These companies are clearly happy to spend a few dollars gaining customers in the short term so that they have an enormous audience available to them down the road.

Back in November, we learned that for the first time in several years, Google would have an official presence at CES. However, it did not reveal the sales figures for the individual devices.

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